Subriel Matías Calls Out Regis Prograis in Pursuit of Unification Bout

Promising Puerto Rican southpaw Subriel Matías began his professional boxing career in 2015. He suffered a heavy loss in 2020 when Armenian Petros Ananyan defeated him by unanimous decision, bringing an end to Matías’ 15 bout win streak, the majority of which were by TKO.

Far from being discouraged, Matías trained harder and spent more time in the gym, determined to return to his path of triumph. After two more victories, both within the distance, Matías beat Ananyan in the rematch in January 2022. Ananyan was knocked down in the ninth round and did not get off the stool for the tenth.

“That first fight was why many on my island, which I represent with pride, turned their backs on me; but I saw it as another opportunity to vindicate myself,” Matías stated, according to the translator. “I wanted, like every boxing warrior, to clear up doubts (after) 23 months of waiting for the rematch.

“Nobody knows what happened in that fight and/or during the training. These are things that had to happen. God is faithful and works in mysterious ways and he gave me the opportunity to answer many questions without having to open my mouth but with results.”

“That blow, I think it came at a good time. Perhaps that blow saved Ananyan from having greater consequences in the fight because I felt like I was in optimal condition, the volume of blows was increasing,” continued Matías.

The victory in the rematch against Ananyan was another testament to the mental strength of Matías, who previously had dealt with the death of his opponent, Russian Maxim Dadashev, after beating him on July 19, 2019, in Maryland.

Matías inflicted a great deal of punishment on Dadashev, then undefeated in 13 fights, 11 won within the distance. After 11 rounds, Dadashev’s condition was so poor that his trainer wouldn’t allow him to go out for the final round. Unfortunately, his situation worsened, so he was stretchered to a hospital affiliated with the University of Maryland where he slipped into a coma. He underwent brain surgery for a subdural hematoma but died shortly thereafter.

Recovered from those two bitter moments, Matías has had four wins, the third in the rematch against Ananyan and the most recent on February 25th by stopping then undefeated Argentine Jeremías Ponce (30-1, 20 KOs) in five rounds.

With that victory, Matías, 30 years old, took over the vacant IBF belt in the super lightweight division. Still wrapped in the euphoria of success, Matías answered defiantly when asked if he will try to unify with any of the other 140-pound champions. “Bring on anybody,” Matias said via his translator. “I’m not afraid of anyone, so bring ‘em on.”

Matías called out WBC super lightweight champion Regis Prograis, “I have a message and I want you all to spread it far and wide. Prograis, I’m coming for you. I’m the world champion now. I promise that I’m coming to hurt you. Prograis likes to talk the talk, but I have that same mentality. Let’s see who prevails. I want him to see that there are people crazier than him in this sport.”

Also a southpaw, Prograis (28-1, 24 KOs) conquered the vacant WBC belt on November 26th in Carson, California by knocking out American José Zepeda (35-3, 27 KOs) in the eleventh round.

Article submitted by Jorge Juan Álvarez in Spanish.

Please note any adjustments made were for clarification purposes and any errors in translation were unintentional.

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